Nation Briefs: June 7

McLEAN — A federal appeals court upheld the conviction Friday of a Virginia man convicted of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, but said that he must be resentenced.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a 30-year prison term and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. Prosecutors had argued that the judge improperly deviated from federal sentencing guidelines that called for life in prison.

The ruling is a major victory for prosecutors in one of their most high-profile terrorism cases.

IN BRIEF

FLORIDA

Astronauts attach attic to Kibo lab

CAPE CANAVERAL — The space station's huge new Japanese lab got even bigger Friday, when the astronauts attached an attic to it for extra storage.

The attic — essentially a 14-foot shed, or closet, for spare tools and equipment — was popped atop the 37-foot Kibo science laboratory by astronauts operating the international space station's robot arm.

VIRGINIA

Ex-lesbian's partner given visitation rights

RICHMOND — Virginia's highest court ruled Friday that the state must enforce a Vermont court order awarding child-visitation rights to a mother's former lesbian partner.

The Virginia Supreme Court rejected Lisa Miller's claim that a lower court improperly ignored a Virginia law and a state constitutional amendment that prohibit same-sex unions.

The ruling was a victory for Janet Jenkins, who has been fighting for visitation rights since the dissolution of the civil union she and Miller obtained in Vermont in 2000. In 2002, Miller gave birth to the daughter, Isabella, who now is at the center of a legal battle closely watched by national conservative and gay rights groups.

Miller renounced homosexuality and moved back to Virginia with the child after the couple split.